Well-Known Member

Hello-
I have mainly traded soap for other handcrafts, thank you's, gifts and small sales to friends and family over the years.

Its time to cost my soap out as people are asking more regularly.

So far my brain has done best with using a spreadsheet method. I do not have a mathematical brain.

That being said I am most likely overlooking an important step... I will provide the link below of the method i am using. i have read many a blogs about it and even have a formula in my books but this has been the one my head gets around best. [ame="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FqVNU9eN9DU"]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=FqVNU9eN9DU[/ame]

Question: when inputting all the figures i'm confused how someone who works in Kilos and grams bases weights off of oils bought in Liters/mls? How do i convert everything into grams? all oils weight differently but are still sold by the liter. I work/sell/caulculate in grams but buy in liters.

Enthusiastic NewbieSupporting Member

Record the weight of the empty bottle for each type of oil you're trying to price out. Then record the weight of a brand new, unopened bottle. Subtract the first one from the second one and you've got the weight of the oil in that bottle. Repeat as needed for each oil you use. Proceed from there to determine cost per gram/kilogram. It's rather a hands on approach, and potentially could take some time to complete since you may not have empty bottles handy to start from. But, it does free you from relying on potentially inaccurate conversions.

This does assume a degree of stability in your oil supply. If you're constantly buying from different places or different size containers, the idea may not be very workable.

Supporting Member

Most oils have a specific gravity of .91 to .98(X) - just under being 1 gram to one ml. The weight of oil is very close to the amount in metric ( slightly less) so an estimate of .9 would be safe and account for waste.

What happens in costing *usually* is that the maker does not charge enough for their time in manufacturing or obtaining the raw materials. Overhead is another place that is easy to under estimate. Skill set is difficult to charge for as well.

Bottom line is: you are a craft person and deserve to make a living wage. If you are going to sell you need to charge accordingly.

Lifetime Supporter

EOs have various specific gravities, so there would be no perfect "one size fits all" conversion. Maybe a decent average, but if you tend to use a lot of oils with a SG on the high side of that average, over time the small inaccuracies would accumulate